> On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 4:09 PM, michel paul <mpaul...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Next week we start probability, and I'm working on a Sage worksheet for my > > students. So far I'm just working on ways to use Sage to represent the > > typical textbook probability examples - dice, cards, etc. Since a lot of > > my students are Jewish, I thought the dreidel example might be good. > > 3. Does anyone have any other ideas for good ways to illustrate probability > > using Sage? This would be for an audience of high school students who are > > very weak in their math but have passed Alg 2 and are motivated for > > college. There's a substantial opportunity here to help your students learn about decision analysis. Probability is a part of that, but it is not enough alone, and for that matter, dice, cards etc are a misleading introduction; proficiency with dice and cards won't get a student very far with practical problems. My advice to you is to get your students started on decision theory. Despite the imposing name, the concepts are elementary and one can make progress with just the simplest arithmetic. (Incidentally a pencil and paper would serve your students better for this purpose than any computer program.) Take a look at "Making Hard Decisions" by Robert Clemen. You'll get much greater interest and participation if you give the students problems to study which are really important (i.e. there is time, money, or life at stake). Some examples: medical testing; car insurance; bicycle or motorcycle accidents; guilt or innocence in court. (I'd like to suggest global warming as well, but heavier equipment is needed just to get started; too bad about that.) Good luck & all the best. Robert Dodier -- To post to this group, send email to sage-support@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-support+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support URL: http://www.sagemath.org
